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[Diablohead]

I honestly hope that H2A MP is worth the effort especially if the original MP is there along with halo CE, 3 and 4 MP.

I'd imagine that H2A MP will be popular for a while then drop off sharply while the original MP will stay at a moderate level because of all the 'pro's' sticking with it.

 

[ProvenDeadly]

I'm sure it will be played, but as it all breaks down, playing 6 maps vs 20+ on every other engine is the deciding factor.

 

[Bsigg12]

I think H2A will be played a lot more than that. It is basically the "new" Halo game this year.

Yea but 6 maps sort of hinders it a bit. Obviously 4 will get the least games played but I honestly think we'll see a pretty even spread across CE, 2, 2A and 3 with 2A getting a lot of play time up front but evening out as people get tired of the 6 maps.

Though the Gungoose will make playing on Coag a blast again and make using the Goose worth it outside of objective gametypes.

 

[Poodlestrike]

The majority of the people will play the original Halo 2

The population breakdown will more than likely be this

1. Halo 2
2. Halo 3
3. Halo CE
4. Halo 2A
5. Halo 4

I think that H2A is going to be more popular than you think it is. Aside from being gorgeous, I think that the gameplay is actually going to go over very well. My guess:

1. H2A
2. H3
3. H2
4. HCE
5. H4

Graphics and overall familiarity (most people I know only really got into the multi with 2) is the only reason HCE is at 4.

 

[RoKKeR]

The majority of the people will play the original Halo 2

The population breakdown will more than likely be this

1. Halo 2
2. Halo 3
3. Halo CE
4. Halo 2A
5. Halo 4


The updated visuals of the maps will only be for 6 maps, and is basically a really good mock of Halo 2. People will be drawn to the original Halo 2 engine with its 24 maps

No chance in hell. I maybe see how people would get tired of the updated maps but I bet it will be the most played. It will be the best looking one, have familiar gameplay with some new and fun additions, and is the main thing they are marketing as a part of the multiplayer package.

This will surely be the order, at least for the first month:

1. H2A
2. H3
3. H2
4. HCE
5. H4

 

[ProvenDeadly]

I think that H2A is going to be more popular than you think it is. Aside from being gorgeous, I think that the gameplay is actually going to go over very well. My guess:

1. H2A
2. H3
3. H2
4. HCE
5. H4

Graphics and overall familiarity (most people I know only really got into the multi with 2) is the only reason HCE is at 4.

H2A is only 6 maps and is being played on a modified version of a H4 engine with some off putting features. It will be popular on front but eventually dwindle to amongst the lowest played games.

 

[Pfhunkie]

Here's my take on which games will be the most popular:

1. I don't know
2. I don't know
3. I don't know
4. I don't know
5. Halo 4

 

[Bsigg12]

H2A is only 6 maps and is being played on a modified version of a H4 engine with some off putting features. It will be popular on front but eventually dwindle to amongst the lowest played games.

Na, Forge will help extend 2A's replay-ability as long as they offer a huge budget and some more options for forging. 2A will maintain a pretty healthy amount of games played in each playlist the maps are available in.

 

[Poodlestrike]

H2A is only 6 maps and is being played on a modified version of a H4 engine with some off putting features. It will be popular on front but eventually dwindle to amongst the lowest played games.

You're right, I forgot about the map count. It'll apparently play exactly like H2 in terms of movement, so the only alterations will be to the maps and the sandbox (and the glitches), so I think it'll be good. Revised list, after several weeks, and assuming no new maps for H2A:

1. H3
2. H2
3. H2A
4. HCE
5. H4

 

[BeforeU]

I'm sure it will be played, but as it all breaks down, playing 6 maps vs 20+ on every other engine is the deciding factor.

I think you are confused, even the 6 remastered maps are on its own Halo 2 engine. And not Halo 4 engine.

 

[darthbob]

I think you are confused, even the 6 remastered maps are on its own Halo 2 engine. And not Halo 4 engine.

It's pretty obvious that the H2A maps are using Halo 4's engine as a base, like the anniversary maps from Halo CEA and Reach.

 

[Kampfheld]

H2A is only 6 maps and is being played on a modified version of a H4 engine with some off putting features. It will be popular on front but eventually dwindle to amongst the lowest played games.

What has the graphics engine to do with gameplay? Nothing ... If you watched the panel yesterday, you should've noticed how much work is going into trying to get everything exactly the same. They even have fear for very small changes, because they know every single pixel difference can have a huge influence.

H2A IS Halo 2 multiplayer pretty much as it was originally planned 10 years ago. That's why they kind of call it a Director's Cut. Hell, it is even done under Hobermanns guidance, the guy who pretty much wa responsible for the original Halo 2 multiplayer.

 

[ProvenDeadly]

I think you are confused, even the 6 remastered maps are on its own Halo 2 engine. And not Halo 4 engine.

If I'm not mistaken, and I'm pretty sure I heard this on a livestream, H2A is running on a "5th engine" which mixes a bit of every halo engine in. It is not the original Halo 2 engine, but they are making it so it feels like Halo 2.

 

[BeforeU]

It's pretty obvious that the H2A maps are using Halo 4's engine as a base, like the anniversary maps from Halo CEA and Reach.

What? 343 specifically sais, they are reskinned running on its own engine. This is nothing like Halo CE anniversary.

 

[DragonSworne]

H2A will end up as the least played multiplayer, yes, even less than Halo 4.

 

[FyreWulff]

I think you are confused, even the 6 remastered maps are on its own Halo 2 engine. And not Halo 4 engine.

It's very obviously the Halo 4 engine retooled to act like Halo 2. It has a bunch of Halo 4 features, and now they've announced H2A will have Halo 4 gametypes like Ricochet. Also has the Halo 4 version of the OS instead of the Halo 2 version.

Unless Microsoft coughed up the money to port the Halo 2 engine twice, then only implement Megalo in one variant of the port (the scripting engine that all those Halo 4 gametypes run off of), which I extremely doubt, it's the Halo 4 engine retooled to take advantage of the One and made to act like Halo 2.

There's not anything wrong with that, mind.


Halo CE -> Halo 2
(overhaul)
Halo 3 -> ODST
(overhaul)
Reach -> Halo 4 - > Halo 2A Multiplayer
(new)
Halo 5

 

[Garrett 2U]

Yea but 6 maps sort of hinders it a bit. Obviously 4 will get the least games played but I honestly think we'll see a pretty even spread across CE, 2, 2A and 3 with 2A getting a lot of play time up front but evening out as people get tired of the 6 maps.

Though the Gungoose will make playing on Coag a blast again and make using the Goose worth it outside of objective gametypes.

H2A multiplayer will get plenty of DLC maps

 

[Pfhunkie]

I think you are confused, even the 6 remastered maps are on its own Halo 2 engine. And not Halo 4 engine.

There's no way that's possible in second generation blam. It's very clear to see it's using Halo 4's engine.

H2A will end up as the least played multiplayer, yes, even less than Halo 4.

Madness!

 

[Bsigg12]

H2A multiplayer will get plenty of DLC maps

If they do, I would love to see them be free so they're not further segregating the user base.

 

[RoKKeR]

H2A will end up as the least played multiplayer, yes, even less than Halo 4.

Haha no, just no chance! It's the "new Halo" game for the fall.

 

[mr teaspoon]

The updated visuals of the maps will only be for 6 maps, and is basically a really good mock of Halo 2. People will be drawn to the original Halo 2 engine with its 24 maps

Wow, somehow I hadn't realized this. Jesus Christ, how retarded.

Yeah, let's re-release Halo 2, one of the most popular multiplayer games ever. But only work on 6 maps. Holy shit.

 

[BeforeU]

Wow I did not know that.

 

[OverHeat]

H2A will end up as the least played multiplayer, yes, even less than Halo 4.

How do you come up with that conclusion?

 

[Bsigg12]

Wow I did not know that.

Know what?

 

[DragonSworne]

How do you come up with that conclusion?

6 maps and it's taking taking stuff from the Halo 4 engine. Sounds like a receipe for disaster. I don't trust 343 to do it right.

 

[ProvenDeadly]

Just went back and watched the video, the 5th engine is a "derivative" of the Halo 2 engine. But it's a modern take on it.

 

[ElRenoRaven]

It's very obviously the Halo 4 engine retooled to act like Halo 2. It has a bunch of Halo 4 features, and now they've announced H2A will have Halo 4 gametypes like Ricochet. Also has the Halo 4 version of the OS instead of the Halo 2 version.

Unless Microsoft coughed up the money to port the Halo 2 engine twice, then only implement Megalo in one variant of the port (the scripting engine that all those Halo 4 gametypes run off of), which I extremely doubt, it's the Halo 4 engine retooled to take advantage of the One and made to act like Halo 2.

There's not anything wrong with that, mind.


Halo CE -> Halo 2
(overhaul)
Halo 3 -> ODST
(overhaul)
Reach -> Halo 4 - > Halo 2A Multiplayer
(new)
Halo 5

Exactly. Halo 4's engine wasn't bad. It was all the crap smeared on top of it. You could tell it was limited by the 360. So You have to figure they started with it then modified the engine as needed to build the H2A engine. It paid off I think too.

 

[Kampfheld]

6 maps and it's taking taking stuff from the Halo 4 engine. Sounds like a receipe for disaster. I don't trust 343 to do it right.

What bad things does it take from the graphics engine?

From a technical standpoint, the Halo 4 engine is amazing. That's a simple fact if you look back at how Halo 4 looked like on a 8 year old mashine. That the game didn't play how you expeced it to be isn't an engine cause.

Some people are so confused what engine means ... Unreal Tournament and Gears of War also practically shared the same engine. And?

 

[BeforeU]

Know what?

Halo 2's 6 remake maps are on Halo 4 engine. lol

 

[Pfhunkie]

What bad things does it take from the graphics engine?

Some people are so confused what engine means ... Unreal Tournament and Gears of War also practically shared the same engine. And?

That's why it makes me cringe a bit when people try to sound like they know what they're talking about with CEA saying its "multiplayer was in Reach's engine" rather than saying it was a map pack for Reach.

 

[FyreWulff]

Also using x engine as a base doesn't mean it's stuck with x game's movement, jump height, etc, it's all changeable. With access to the map data you can make Reach have Halo 1 jump height/speed/damages, you could make Halo 1 have the Hornet as a vehicle, etc.

And that's just map data, when you have access to the code, you can fine tune the under the hood stuff even more. Hell, even dual wielding wasn't hardcoded into the guns, you can actually just tick a checkbox per map to make any weapon Halo 2 DW-able. You could specify that Lockout has dualable needlers but Beaver Creek only has single wield needlers if you wanted to.. (but it'd be terrible to try and communicate that in a good way to all players)

Blam was/is a pretty neat engine

 

[darthbob]

Halo 2's 6 remake maps are on Halo 4 engine. lol

Derp.

The obvious signs were Ricochet, the overall aesthetic of Ascension, and the already seen helmet permutation.

 

[Bsigg12]

Halo 2's 6 remake maps are on Halo 4 engine. lol

Oh, yea. A heavily modified version with new lighting, movement mechanics all retooled to feel like Halo 2, new weapons brought into it to match the Halo 2 sandbox as well as add to it, and of course dual wielding.

There's a reason they're only doing 6 maps remade, this is a massive undertaking to rebuild the Halo 4 engine to run like a much updated Halo 2.

 

[Zornack]

Here's my take on which games will be the most popular:

1. I don't know
2. I don't know
3. I don't know
4. I don't know
5. Halo 4

Haha, yeah. The only thing I'm sure of is that H4 will be the least popular.

 

[jediyoshi]

That's why it makes me cringe a bit when people try to sound like they know what they're talking about with CEA saying its "multiplayer was in Reach's engine" rather than saying it was a map pack for Reach.

"Map pack" has a very specific connotation that doesn't apply, it's the worse distinction between the two.

 

[ProvenDeadly]

Halo 2's 6 remake maps are on Halo 4 engine. lol

It's apparently a derivative of Halo 2, but not exactly Halo 2? On yesterday's panel they kept talking about tweaking things like jump height to make it feel like Halo 2, so if it were Halo 2s engine, wouldn't the gameplay already be there? I'm not exactly sure.

 

[ElRenoRaven]

Also using x engine as a base doesn't mean it's stuck with x game's movement, jump height, etc, it's all changeable. With access to the map data you can make Reach have Halo 1 jump height/speed/damages, you could make Halo 1 have the Hornet as a vehicle, etc.

And that's just map data, when you have access to the code, you can fine tune the under the hood stuff even more. Hell, even dual wielding wasn't hardcoded into the guns, you can actually just tick a checkbox per map to make any weapon Halo 2 DW-able. You could specify that Lockout has dualable needlers but Beaver Creek only has single wield needlers if you wanted to.. (but it'd be terrible to try and communicate that in a good way to all players)

Blam was/is a pretty neat engine

It really is. From what I've read about it the engine sounds interesting as hell.

Oh, yea. A heavily modified version with new lighting, movement mechanics all retooled to feel like Halo 2, new weapons brought into it to match the Halo 2 sandbox as well as add to it, and of course dual wielding.

There's a reason they're only doing 6 maps remade, this is a massive undertaking to rebuild the Halo 4 engine to run like a much updated Halo 2.

I dunno. Not if they were using what they learned to maybe take some steps to make Halo 5 feel more like the old school Halo games. If anything it could be a good research opportunity.

 

[ElRenoRaven]

Shit. Didn't mean to double post. Thought I was editing mine.

 

[Pfhunkie]

"Map pack" has a very specific connotation that doesn't apply, it's the worse distinction between the two.

Worse distinction? What? It is a map pack. It is what it is. They also released a modified gametype that brought back the three shot pistol but that's it. It's inside the game of Reach as a map pack. That's not subjective; it's an objective fact.

 

[Solidsoul]

Damn, people are relentless at giving Halo 4 no credit at all. When did it become standard practice to drive how much we hate something into the ground for the sake of getting our point across? I am guilty just as many others are.

Let's talk about Halo 4's positives (Technically opinions, but i feel like many agree with these?):

- The graphics looked phenomenal
- The weapons sound amazing
- Cortana and Chiefs dialog/emotions + character development
- Maps like Haven, Abandon
- Ricochet (Heard only positive things, never got the chance to play it)
- Character faces and animations
- New additions like the Saw, Mantis, (personally i liked the light rifle)

There are great things about Halo 4, and just because many people didn't enjoy Halo 4 doesn't mean some of the things used and/or learned in that game cannot be applied to future Halo iterations like Halo 2 Anniversary.

 

[Bsigg12]

Shit. Didn't mean to double post. Thought I was editing mine.

Which is something I've actually thought about a lot. What if the H2A multiplayer engine is a skeleton version of the Halo 5 engine? It would make sense to me to get a complete build which core mechanics in place, networking and everything included, to see how it handles a month before the Halo 5 multiplayer beta goes live.

Doesn't it seem a little odd that we would get a beta almost a year in advance and month after the MCC released?

 

[ProvenDeadly]

I think they've already said H2A is not related to Halo 5. The first time that the Halo 5 engine will be playable is during the beta.

 

[maneil99]

Damn, people are relentless at giving Halo 4 no credit at all. When did it become standard practice to drive how much we hate something into the ground for the sake of getting our point across? I am guilty just as many others are.

Let's talk about Halo 4's positives (Technically opinions, but i feel like many agree with these?):

- The graphics looked phenomenal
- The weapons sound amazing
- Cortana and Chiefs dialog/emotions + character development
- Maps like Haven, Abandon
- Ricochet (Heard only positive things, never got the chance to play it)
- Character faces and animations
- New additions like the Saw, Mantis, (personally i liked the light rifle)

There are great things about Halo 4, and just because many people didn't enjoy Halo 4 doesn't mean some of the things used and/or learned in that game cannot be applied to future Halo iterations like Halo 2 Anniversary.

The graphics came at a cost of incredibly reduced scale of ai and battles. The character development felt very cheesy to me.

 

[Killer]

Can we expect DLC maps for H2A? I want them to remake all the maps!

 

[Solidsoul]

The graphics came at a cost of incredibly reduced scale of ai and battles. The character development felt very cheesy to me.

Well, on the Xbox One you will have these graphics without a reduced scale of AI and battles so that is no longer a problem for you. As far as the character development feeling cheesy, i guess there's not much i can say. Hopefully the direction they take for Halo 5 is more akin to what you like.

 

[daedalius]

I'm going to go with most of you have no idea what 'engine' even means or does.

H2a is probably going to play a lot like halo 2, and I imagine will be one of the more popular games in the package, especially once forging on the new maps takes off.

 

[RoKKeR]

Damn, people are relentless at giving Halo 4 no credit at all. When did it become standard practice to drive how much we hate something into the ground for the sake of getting our point across? I am guilty just as many others are.

Let's talk about Halo 4's positives (Technically opinions, but i feel like many agree with these?):

- The graphics looked phenomenal
- The weapons sound amazing
- Cortana and Chiefs dialog/emotions + character development
- Maps like Haven, Abandon
- Ricochet (Heard only positive things, never got the chance to play it)
- Character faces and animations
- New additions like the Saw, Mantis, (personally i liked the light rifle)

There are great things about Halo 4, and just because many people didn't enjoy Halo 4 doesn't mean some of the things used and/or learned in that game cannot be applied to future Halo iterations like Halo 2 Anniversary.

And let's cut the selective memory just for a bit:

-Loadouts
-Perks
-Killstreaks
-Worthless and forgettable ranking system
-A new standard for community fragmentation via DLC
-Weapon repetition (Light Rifle???)
-Boltshot
-Promethean Vision
-Splitscreen? HA! Good luck

Guess I'll stop here. I do agree that there are a lot of solid things about Halo 4, and I actually really enjoy playing Legendary Slayer BR's, it feels like traditional Halo. But it was littered with signs of 343 trying to change and add just for change's sake, which isn't the way to pick up an established franchise like Halo.

 

[ElRenoRaven]

Which is something I've actually thought about a lot. What if the H2A multiplayer engine is a skeleton version of the Halo 5 engine? It would make sense to me to get a complete build which core mechanics in place, networking and everything included, to see how it handles a month before the Halo 5 multiplayer beta goes live.

Doesn't it seem a little odd that we would get a beta almost a year in advance and month after the MCC released?

I wouldn't go that far. Now could Halo 5 use things learned from it? Yea but I don't think it's Halo 5's early incarnation.

 

[Solidsoul]

And let's cut the selective memory just for a bit:

-Loadouts
-Perks
-Killstreaks
-Worthless and forgettable ranking system
-A new standard for community fragmentation via DLC
-Weapon repetition (Light Rifle???)
-Boltshot
-Promethean Vision
-Splitscreen? HA! Good luck

Guess I'll stop here. I do agree that there are a lot of solid things about Halo 4, and I actually really enjoy playing Legendary Slayer BR's, it feels like traditional Halo. But it was littered with signs of 343 trying to change and add just for change's sake, which isn't the way to pick up an established franchise like Halo.

Let's talk about Halo 4's positives

Read my whole post next time please.

 

[nhlducks35]

Damn, people are relentless at giving Halo 4 no credit at all. When did it become standard practice to drive how much we hate something into the ground for the sake of getting our point across? I am guilty just as many others are.

Let's talk about Halo 4's positives (Technically opinions, but i feel like many agree with these?):

- The graphics looked phenomenal
- The weapons sound amazing
- Cortana and Chiefs dialog/emotions + character development
- Maps like Haven, Abandon
- Ricochet (Heard only positive things, never got the chance to play it)
- Character faces and animations
- New additions like the Saw, Mantis, (personally i liked the light rifle)

There are great things about Halo 4, and just because many people didn't enjoy Halo 4 doesn't mean some of the things used and/or learned in that game cannot be applied to future Halo iterations like Halo 2 Anniversary.

I like how all the positives have barely anything to do with gameplay